Portrait of Dr Nitisha Tomar

Dr Nitisha Tomar

Lecturer in Marketing

Bayes Business School , Faculty of Management

Contact

About

Overview

Nitisha pursues research on consumer behavior that emerges at the intersection of market and civic realms: consumer citizenship. Her research explores the relationship between everyday consumer decisions and civic engagement, emphasizing the paradoxes inherent in this dynamic. Examples include the conflict between a consumer's freedom of choice and moral responsibility as a citizen, and the tension between profit-driven capitalism and the citizenship ideal of equitable distribution. She employs theories from the public sphere, moral justification, and market co-creation to understand how consumers navigate these paradoxes. By utilizing ethnographic approaches and in-depth interviews, she bridges these theoretical frameworks with the lived realities of consumers, offering actionable insights for marketing and public policy professionals striving to

balance economic interests with societal well-being.

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States, September 2019 - August 2024
  • MBA, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India, July 2014 - April 2016
  • BTech, Vellore Institute of Technology University, India, July 2009 - June 2013

Administrative roles

  • Representative, Consumer Culture Theory PhD Network, September 2022 - September 2023
  • Volunteer, Asia Pacific Association for Consumer Research Conference, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India, January 2019

Memberships of professional organisations

  • Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
  • Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) Consortium
  • American Marketing Association (AMA)

Awards

  • Association for Consumer Research (ACR) (2023). Dissertation Award
  • Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2020). Distinguished Teaching Award
  • Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), University of Wisconsin-Madison (2020). Research Grant Award
    Awarded the competitive research grant ($34,409) for the research project, "(Re)gaining Morality: Parental Justifications for Consumption Decisions within Economies of Worth,” with Amber Epp and Adina Robinson
  • Great Lakes North American Society for Marketing Education in India (NASMEI) (2018). Bala and Vasantha Balachandran Research Grant Award
    Competitive Research Grant Award (Rs. 1,00,000)

Languages

English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review) and Hindi (can read, write, speak, understand spoken)

Expertise

Primary topics

  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Marketing
  • Qualitative Research Methods

Additional topics

  • Design Thinking
  • Innovation & Creativity
  • Critical Management Studies

Industries

  • marketing
  • media
  • leisure/recreation
  • communications
  • non-profit & voluntary sector
  • arts
  • creative industries
  • health care

Geographic Areas

  • Americas - North
  • Europe
  • Scandinavia

Research

Research topics

Market-Mediated Play as a Creative Mode of Public Discourse

Authors: Nitisha Tomar and Amber M. Epp Data collection and analysis complete, writing in progress, target - Journal of Consumer Research

(Re)gaining Morality: Parental Justifications for Consumption Decisions within Economies of Worth

Authors: Amber M. Epp, Adina Robinson, and Nitisha Tomar Data collection complete, analysis and writing in progress, target - Journal of Consumer Research

You Don’t Do It Yourself: Rude Awakenings from Enchanting Marketplace Myths

Authors: Henriikka Seittu, Nitisha Tomar, Kushagra Bhatnagar, Tomas Falk, Alexei Gloukhovtsev Data collection complete, analysis and writing in progress, target - Journal of Marketing

Cultural Perspectives on Product Categorization: Interaction between Copyright regime and Collective Creativity in the Marketplace

Authors: Nitisha Tomar and Adam D. Slobodzian Conceptualization and study design in progress, target - Journal of Marketing

Wedding Socials: The Cultural Role of Market-Based Ritual Practices

Authors: Adam D. Slobodzian, Kivaline E. Grove, and Nitisha Tomar Data collection in progress, target - Journal of Consumer Research

Publications

Conference paper and proceedings

  1. American Marketing Association Winter Conference 2025. .

Media

  1. Tomar, N. Meta's fact-checking and diversity rollbacks represent 'dangerous retreat' from corporate responsibility.

Other (2)

  1. Tomar, N., Slobodzian, A. and Grove, K. Wedding Socials: The Cultural Role of Market-Based Ritual Practices.
  2. Tomar, N. Market-mediated Play as a Creative Mode of Public Dialogue.

Professional activities

Editorial activity (2)

  1. Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Reviewer, July 2024.
  2. Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Reviewer, July 2022.

Events/conferences (17)

  1. Mittelstaedt & Gentry Doctoral Symposium, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (Conference) Lincoln, USA (2024).
    Paper: Presenter
    Author: Tomar, N.
  2. Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference. (Conference) Seattle, USA (2023). Session/Day Chair
    Paper: Ludic Publics: Transformation through Ludic Consumption
    Author: Tomar, N.
    Co-authors: Epp, Amber M.
  3. Consumption Theory: A Canon of Classics. (Seminar) Odense, Denmark (2023).
    Paper: Participant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  4. Haring Symposium, Indiana University. (Conference) Bloomington, USA (2023).
    Paper: Discussant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  5. Chicago Consumer Culture Community (C4) Research Series. (Seminar) Chicago, USA (2022). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Stories We Play By: Solidarity through Ludic Publics
    Author: Tomar, N.
    Co-authors: Epp, Amber M.
  6. Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Workshop, Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) Conference. (Workshop) Corvallis, USA (2022).
    Paper: Participant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  7. Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) Conference. (Conference) Corvallis, USA (2022).
    Paper: Community through Competition – Exploring the Trajectories of Deep Play and Communal Experiences Post Disruption
    Author: Tomar, N.
    Co-authors: Epp, Amber M.
  8. Consumer Culture Theory Conference. (Conference) Corvallis, USA (2022). Session/Day Chair
    Paper: Roundtable: Ethnographic Futures in the Pandemic World
    Author: Tomar, N.
    Co-authors: Epp, Amber M.
  9. Mittelstaedt & Gentry Doctoral Symposium, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (Conference) Lincoln, USA (2022).
    Paper: Discussant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  10. American Marketing Association (AMA) Winter Educators’ Conference. (Conference) Las Vegas, USA (2022).
    Paper: Challenges to Social Solidarity: How Vaccine-Hesitant Parents use Emotion Work to Navigate an Economy of Morals
    Author: Epp, Amber M.
    Co-authors: Tomar, N.; Robinson, A.
  11. Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference. (Conference) Virtual (2021).
    Paper: The Seesaw of Loss and Hope: How Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Justify and Experience their Choices within Economies of Worth
    Author: Epp, Amber M.
    Co-authors: Tomar, N.; Robinson, A.
  12. Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference. (Conference) Virtual (2021). Session/Day Chair
    Paper: Community through Competition, Special Session - "The Babel of Collective Consumption: Tensions and Heterogeneity in Communities and Subcultures”
    Author: Tomar, N.
    Co-authors: Epp, Amber M.
  13. Workshop in Consumer Culture Theory, University of Aveiro. (Workshop) Virtual (2021).
    Paper: Presenter and Participant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  14. Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Workshop, Consumer Culture Theory Conference. (Workshop) Virtual (2021).
    Paper: Participant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  15. Doctoral Colloquium, Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference. (Conference) Atlanta, USA (2019).
    Paper: Participant
    Author: Tomar, N.
  16. Qualitative Research Methods Workshop conducted by Prof. Eric Arnould and Prof. Søren Askegaard. (Workshop) Ahmedabad, India (2019).
    Paper: Participant
  17. Consumer Behaviour Research Methods Workshop conducted by Prof. Priya Raghubir and Prof. Ana Valenzuela. (Workshop) Chennai, India (2017).
    Paper: Participant